A San Diego adventure at the 15th Annual ASU+GSV Conference ('Here Comes the Sun...and AI') - PART 1

Rob Strulowitz, Managing Director

April 23, 2024

As Springtime blossoms each April, it seems the entire world of educators, thought leaders, politicians, edtech providers and investors take a pilgrimage to San Diego for the Annual ASU+GSV conference to gauge the direction of the wind blowing for all things Learning.

This April 2024 was no different with over 7,800 attendees gravitating towards the sunny California coast at the Manchester Grand Hyatt for five days, with this year's conference aptly named 'Here Comes The Sun'.

LearnSimple has been spending quality time in Europe, surveying a burgeoning culture of Edtech innovation (more on this later), and took the transatlantic journey from Paris to Los Angeles to overcome jetlag and return to our familiar North American west coast time zone.   

After reconnecting with our Los Angeles friends and network, we headed south down the San Diego Freeway...

SUNDAY, APRIL 14, 2024

After a quick dropoff at our downtown hotel, we ventured over to the ASU+GSV Air Show, a first-time conference addition at the San Diego Convention Center intended on showcasing the best of AI driven educational technology. 

Described as 'An AI Revolution in Education', the ASU+GSV Air Show was indeed an immersive experience that 'explored how artificial intelligence is revolutionizing the educational landscape'. The event showcased 125+ of the world's leading AI in education companies and feature hands-on workshops, live demos, insightful keynotes, and fun community building.  (Plus keynote speaker Bill Nye, who we missed)

We saw some great AI innovation and met some outstanding entrepreneurs looking to disrupt education from the ground up, leveraging the power of artificial intelligence and large language models.  Not all these companies will make it, but we found a few standout companies to keep an eye on.

Genius Academy is a unique workforce learning platform that leverage what we believe is a strong use case for AI....behavior based application simulations, starting with mental health training. Genius Academy's  platform puts learners in virtual immersive simulations to develop therapy skills and prepare students for real-world practice.   We were really impressed with Genius Academy's combination of advanced learning methodologies, Hollywood styled production and personalized learning via AI integration.   Mental health is a logical starting point with numerous behavior based use cases ahead (i.e. compliance training, DEI training to name a few).  Will be excited to see how this platform evolves over time.

Yeti Confetti Kids by Lirvana Labs is a super-engaging and smart K-12 AI learning platform that is sure to gain traction in the K-12 curriculum market.   Founded by brother-sister duo Clement and Christie Pang, Yeti Confetti harnesses the power of AI to create a Learning Companion that could teach every single child the critical literacy and reasoning skills that change lives and destinies.   Lirvana Labs has debuted the product at Air Show after months in stealth mode.  From our time in the K-12 market, we think Yeti Confetti marries technology and creativity designed to engage, a critical component to unseat larger curriculum players in the marketplace.   Execution is everything, with Lirvana Labs a likely acquisition target in the future.

Doowii may sound less engaging on the surface, but we can attest to the strong market need in Education for great analytics to inform K-12 and Higher Education Administrators on the effectiveness of their educational programs.   Founded by former Google, Microsoft and Twitter veterans, this powerful tool leverages the best of AI to integrate data from multiple sources and provide meaningful insight with numerous integration capabilities.   Doowii can "unify all your educational data streams with Doowii's centralized hub. Simple access to attendance, grades, and beyond in one place streamlines strategy and drives informed decisions."   This company has great potential in both K-12 and higher learning with corporate learning use cases not far behind.

We ended the first night back at the Manchester Grand Hyatt for ASU+GSV's Opening Reception, conveniently located on the pool level overlooking the beautiful San Diego Harbour.   

The promise of 'here comes the sun' was met, and it was a great opportunity to reconnect with friends and colleagues while meet some new and talented folks over drinks and hors d'oeuvres, including the good people at Tyton Partners and Fortitute Advisors before the sun set on a great first day at the conference.

Already exhausted and exhilarated with only a half a day in....time to rest up for the week ahead.

PART 2 - coming later this week...